Incoming seventh-grader Jessica Handwerker's interest was caught by a presentation on flooding in Bangladesh from a National Center For Atmospheric Research scientist who specializes in flood forecasting.

Jessica, a student at the Dawson Summer Initiative who will attend Lafayette's Angevine Middle School in the fall, is researching how climate change is affecting people and how different countries are adapting.

"You have these big chunks of time to work on your project," she said. "It's work, but it's fun and interesting. I'm here with people who are like me, who like to learn."

Jessica is one of about 80 high-achieving middle school students spending five weeks this summer learning about climate science -- from carbon footprints to population change to alternative fuel. Students who attended last summer's program on food also spent two weeks at a leadership camp.

The program, open to public middle school students who competed for spots, is paid for by the Alexander Dawson Foundation. To make sure there are no barriers to students attending, lunch and transportation are provided and there's no tuition.

The students are from 27 middle schools in the Boulder Valley, St. Vrain Valley and Adams 12 school districts. Only the top few students from each school were accepted.

"We want them to be leaders at their schools," said program director Lisa Michael.

Ryan O'Block, a teacher in the program who's also a Boulder High physics teacher, said he likes that the program is project based and multidisciplinary.

"They're learning math, science and English skills in the context of solving a real problem," he said. "They have an opportunity to see the big picture before they get out in the world."

Students started the session by learning about climate issues from speakers, including Jeff Orlowski, director of the "Chasing Ice" documentary, and local climate scientists. They also get science and math lessons to broaden their understanding of the topics, as well as lessons on using Photoshop, video editing software and other programs. To take notes, the students mainly are using iPads.

"I can't tell you how much I learned in two-and-a-half weeks," said Katelyn Bond, who will be a seventh-grader at Longmont's Altona Middle School. "It's amazing."

Next, the students split into teams to work collaboratively on projects. Along with traditional poster board displays, they're also making videos and designing experiments.

Sam Beaudry, who will be an eighth-grader at Erie Middle School, is designing a hydrogen fuel cell using water, electricity and an empty pop bottle to collect hydrogen. His overall project focuses an alternative vehicles.

"You can come up with all these ideas," he said. "You wouldn't go this deep into specifics at school."

Other projects include using a "Bloom Box" as a green power generator, exploring how fireworks impact air quality and creating a school curriculum to educate about climate change.

Connor Jansen, who will be a seventh-grader at Boulder's Southern Hills Middle School, is working on a biofuels project.

"You get to decide what you want to work on," he said. "Here, everybody likes the same stuff as I do. We're all driven."

The students are encouraged to share their knowledge with their classmates when they return to their schools in the fall and to continue working on related projects.

"A lot of these students came up with really amazing projects," said Heather Hilson, a college student who's a teaching assistant in the program. "It's going to be up to their generation to solve the climate issues."

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